The Aftermath
by Tiny Wolverine
Summary: The aftermath of a battle is always the worst: you see people crying, feel the sadness in the air.. You no longer feel the hate. You just want to love.. Nobody can stay enemies with anyone during the period of grieving. Oneshot, Stellis.


**The Aftermath  
**_Oneshot fanfic by Dawn. Fire. Angel_

**Hey everyone! Dawn here, with something that most of you love...**

**It's a Stella/Noctis story! YAY!! You're all happy about that, aren't you? –studiously ignores fellow Stella-haters-**

**Anyways, it's not exactly romance, but it's in Stella's POV.... maybe I'll make a full sequel when I'm done with my other stories. **

**Please review!! =)**

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_Was there ever a time when peace ruled Tenebrae?_

So thought the blond Princess as she gazed out sadly at the twisted, bloodied, broken bodies below her. She descended, sheathing her sword as she did, and knelt beside the body of one of her own guards – one of her friends, even.

A single tear escaped her eye and fell on the woman's dirt- and blood-covered face.

Stella started to reach for her helmet. Something stopped her, however. She paused, and looked at the woman again. She died doing her duty – she deserved to wear the royal crest of Fleuret on the funeral pyre. Stella's hand retreated, and she stood. _Rest well, Ariana._

She could've sworn that Ariana's lips twisted into a brief, faint smile before her whole face turning peaceful once more.

Stella backed away, and hit something hard and warm.

"Oof! Oh, sorry -," she started to say, then she fully registered who she was talking to.

Noctis Lucis Caelum stared at her with fathomless dark blue eyes. She swallowed.

Here was the enemy, the root of all discord.

And yet, why did her heart flutter just at the sight of him?

She didn't know what to say.

Noctis, instead of killing her, ignored her and strode past with a man slung over his shoulders. Wide, strong shoulders. Now why did she notice that for?

"Hey, stop!"

Stella's outburst surprised both the Prince and herself. He paused, and looked over the shoulder that didn't have a man slung over it. He raised one eyebrow.

Well, it was now or never.

"You dare to show your face here in my lands after all you've done?" Stella demanded. Her eyes flashed.

Noctis didn't reply for a moment. He just watched her.

The silence around them was only broken by an occasional caw of the raven as it found food.

Finally, the Prince spoke, "I have friends dead here as well, Stella. I do not want them in the mercy of the war-birds (ravens), and I daresay you don't wish your friends' bodies to rot that way as well." He shifted the man, and began to walk away again.

Stella swallowed. This man was the man she hated... or did she?

"I don't."

Noctis knelt suddenly, and picked up another man. He hoisted the second man on top of the first, and teleported away.

Stella sighed, feeling suddenly very lonely.

A second later, he was back, and kneeling next to Ariana.

"One of yours?" he asked, nodding at the girl.

"Yes."

"Do you wish me to take her back?"

The offer startled her. "I-if you want."

He picked up Ariana and disappeared, and reappeared again, next to her. He was now kneeling next to his own man. Stella watched him. His face was hidden in shadow as he laid a hand on the man's forehead. She saw a smile twist on his perfect lips...

She slapped herself.

"Laris..."

Stella peered closer at the man, and realized that she knew him – he was the guy who wielded the shotgun and came with the Prince whenever Noctis came to try and settle things with her father. He was also the man she'd killed herself.

From the way Noctis sounded, he must've been one of his good friends.

"I'm sorry," Stella whispered, suddenly stricken with guilt at what she'd done.

Noctis looked up.

"It's not your fault. He was meant to return to our Mother on this day, and the time you killed him was the specified time he wished to leave to Valhalla." He spoke in a matter-of-factly tone that surprised her; not many people could handle their friends and family dying well.

Silence consumed them for a while.

"Thank you," Stella said finally. He didn't answer as he picked up the man as one would pick up a baby. Then, she asked, "Why did you help me send Ariana back?"

He was silent for a while, obviously thinking. Then, "In the battle, all you feel is hate... but then, when you see your loved ones fall... you want to help, you want to tell them how much they mean to you. But you can't, because they're gone. So the one way to repent, and 'help', is to help others, others you know that you _can_ help. And... you're one of them. The aftermath of the battle is always the worst: you see people crying, you feel the sadness in the air... Just a simple word of comfort is good enough to help sometimes. You no longer feel the hate. You just want to love... Nobody can stay enemies with anyone during the period of grieving. For now, we have a mutual understanding." He looked at her, and gave her a half-smile that sent butterflies fluttering through her stomach.

Stella thought through what he said. There was a grain of truth in his words...

"You're right," she said finally, and smiled at him.

Noctis turned away and disappeared once again. Stella moved over to another one of her guards, checked if he was still alive, then blessed him. The golden mark was still visible upon his brow when Noctis returned. He raised his eyebrows at the man.

"You have the gift of Peace," he said at last.

"Yes."

Noctis surveyed her for a moment, then knelt to pick up the man. "I'll bring him back."

Stella nodded, and Noctis disappeared.

They worked like that in silence – Stella blessing every corpse she could see, Noctis teleporting back and forth.

When the last person's mark faded away, Noctis returned from his last haul, and looked at the boy – not older than eighteen probably – and sighed.

"I hate it when boys sign themselves up only to get killed. They're idiots, the lot of them."

"We trained everyone before sending them to war."

"Not good enough, obviously, or this boy would've had a longer life to live." Noctis, without waiting for her answer, picked the boy up, and started to walk away again.

Stella stopped him, "Wait!"

He turned around.

She didn't know what to say, so she simply whispered, "Thank you. For everything."

Noctis hesitated, and smiled. "You're welcome." He turned back, then paused. "By the way..." Noctis stopped and looked around again with a wry smile. "You look fantastic in that outfit."

Then, he disappeared into the evening air, leaving Stella gazing at the spot he had been standing earlier in wonder.

Maybe... maybe there was hope for peace after all.

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**Please review! I, like Yuki, have decided to TRY and be nice to Stella. -kicks Stella- Note: I said try!! It's only for oneshots though, because I'm already doing... (does mental calculation... for five hours) six full stories!! None of them are done, so yeah. Maybe a whole fic would come out after I'm done...**

**The 'love part' between them is pretty subtle... but it's there. It was in Stella's POV so I couldn't show Noctis's 'undying love for Stella' in it...**

**To my fellow forumers: Yes, it's really me, Dawn! I haven't been body-snatched or anything, don't worry. =) Want me to prove it to you?? Huh? Do ya? Do ya? ... But I don't even know how!!!**

**Oh yeah – BOTOX!!!! MWAHAHHA!!! **

**That enough? xD**

**Reviews make my day. ^^**


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